DOGGYWOOD PITBULL KENNELS

MILLMAKER'S MAXIMUM STRESS by ROBERT LEMM JR.

The biggest secret to success is that there is no secret to success. Relentless hard work and unwavering dedication to the task are the simple cornerstones of most every business success story. Don't look for the easy way to success, instead be willing to do what it takes even when it's hard. Conditioning a dog in preparation for the contest is not hard. Why make it hard work? Past history has proven itself. Most people don't know how easy it is to be successful in preparation for a contest. People sell conditioning programs, proclaiming a success of their writings. Every one should know that conditioning is exercising, raising the heart rate and recovery. Recovery, meaning allowing the body and primarily the brain to oxygen recover. A timely recovery is the most important stage of conditioning. Nobody ever, has incorporated such scheduling of maximum stress and recovery like I have to you all. The best-feed keep in the world becomes an average outing without a timely recovery. So as it stands everyone conditions dogs the same way, except some do it better than others. I chose a free conditioning technique, quick muscle flex over strength conditioning, tension resistance. A free turning treadmill, easy turning flying jenny or a bicycle is a free conditioning, a running "keep". No stress or strain to the body before the contest. That's why Floyd Boudreaux walks a dog so much to give his dog a timely recovery. Mr. Boudreaux knows if one dog needs more recovery time than another, you just have a longer day. You can never over recover a dog. Years of experience have given many men a great life with the dogs. A timely recovery with technique and feed keep is the trick to success. People who sell supplement nourishment can only increase the health of a dog to assist and allow you to get more condition in your dog. To strength condition your dog is to contest your dog heavy. To free condition your dog is to contest your dog lighter. To strength condition is to be stronger but to use very little of that strength in the contest because of all the quick muscle flex. That's to say that it's the wrong technique, because your dog is not at his true weight, so he cannot cool in a contest because of the contest being of fast twitch muscle exercise, not in preparation for the contest. It's a fact that not very many people know how to finish a dog to peak condition with a strength condition.

All the great dogs I've seen contest were free conditioned. Some without a timely recovery and still won. A few great dogs strength conditioned won, but all of the few had to have a timely recovery while being on bottom.

I chose the technique that conditions the body to utilize the most nutrition in a short time, a "running keep". The body will convert a vast amount of nutrients and fuels into energy at a low temperature for a long time. That technique used properly, with a schedule that allows the dog to respiratory recover sufficiently, every time he comes from maximum stress, will allow the dog to start the contest prepared to stay at maximum stress (m/s) for as long as it takes. No contest good for 30 minutes and fade and still win. I mean jump to m/s and at the end of the contest still have an above average heart rate. I'm happy because I did all I could do for that animal whether I win or lose. The words maximum stress expressed during conditioning means he will break stride to recover, because his heart rate has never been higher during the contest than any day during the entire "keep". Most likely never reach but 2/3, which will lengthen the time at m/s, and shorten the recovery time so he can get back to the business at hand with style and a fast pace. Technique, scheduling recovery, progressively resting is the correct way to prepare your dog for the contest. A free turning treadmill, easy pulling flying jenny, or a bicycle allows the dog to condition a very high heart rate without any stress, strain or tension. Your dog may get tired, but never get weak and stagger around, even if the contest goes more than an hour. The contest will tell the whole story. I missed it more times than I would like to remember. I hope to enlighten everyone so your dog won't falter, break stride with no choice in the matter. If at any time he slows down it is because his adversary is on the bottom trying to recover. I will tell everyone everything I know about conditioning maximum stress, so everyone can make adjustments to my schedule if needed. So after every contest you know if the dog needs more recovery time, extended progressive rest time, longer pre-keep at true weight, or the dog lighter, with a running keep you can never contest the dog heavy. When you can do that with confidence and performance you may not do as well as you did last time, but you won't do bad ever again. This way you have a chance to win 5x's, because you start each contest with reserve energy that most dogs use up because they were not prepared for the contest and had to take bottom to recover. If you retire your dog after 3 wins, you will never be able to improve your performance, so you can become a world-class competitor by winning 7x's, and stand next to my peers and I. My free conditioning keep, simple feed keep and 102 treadmills all over the world have won well over 1,000 contests.

FREE CONDITIONING
What to do, what to expect, in preparation and during conditioning, and in preparation for the contest.
Progressive work schedule

The book explains the respiratory recovery method for a contest. I've chosen a 15 minute session, check the heart rate, if the heart rate is the same or less than the day before take the dog for a 5 minute walk and add 5 minutes of work to the schedule. Do this day after day until you build a second 15-minute session. It takes two 15-minute sessions to reach a true maximum stress (m/s) with a rise in temperature. Continue to add five minutes of work until you get a bad recovery. A bad recovery means a higher heart rate than yesterday and yesterday was too much work. Now you know essentially how much work your dog can take. Continue to check his heart rate every day at 15 minutes in case you get a good recovery again so you can add another 5 minutes, looking for another bad recovery. Whether or not you are adding work or not, three days before the contest you cut that work in half. Two days before the contest cut the work in half again. You cannot achieve this properly with strength conditioning of any kind. You can purchase a heart monitor at the following address:
DAMARK
1-800-729-9000
7101 Winnetka Avenue North
PO BOX 9437
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9437

REST
The only rest your dog gets is the progressively decreasing his work on the 28th, 29th and the contest day, because your dog will take on fluid with rest as you know the meaning of rest without your dog's heart rate being at maximum stress. Resting a dog any other way, you most likely will have to take away his water, use the needle, use a lighter dog and come to the contest with a wet dog that can't breath and have to take bottom. Most likely you can win, but you can never win 5x's because of what you did the last three days of rest. If your dog is at his true weight when you get a bad recovery your dog will continually get strong until rest days. If on 29th day he is heavy? Do the same amount of work you did on the 28th day. When your dog achieves a fixed time because of a bad recovery that day to the end of the keep, your dog will build a solid base of condition. It's called rest! At this part of the keep his respiration may fluctuate slightly from day to day. Marginal differences should be of no consequence. By this time you will know what a bad recovery is, and make any adjustments in work time. Understanding "maximum stress" plus ten days of pre-keep, and twenty-seven days of the keep only conditions your dog for the contest, three days correctly resting the dog is the only real preparation for the contest night and is equally important as the previous thirty-seven days of keep. Not enough rest or too much rest has the same effect on your dog. It allows maximum stress (energy deficiency) to show up in the contest sooner than you expected. I rest the dog with less and less mill work in the last three days of the keep, because the dog doesn't need much rest, if any at all. The dog needs to retain the rate of conversion at his true weight. I rest the dog just enough for the dog's body to store inside fat (quick burning energy) that is used and replaced daily under stressful conditions, and retains fluid at a rate that I control. This procedure allows my dog to breath freely throughout the contest, which results in no hot spots, they just keep kicking ass! That's why they all start fast, and keep their adversary at maximum stress with no chance for recovery with no choice in the matter. I really love to watch my dog smother the other dog.

PROGRESS WORK SCHEDULE
1. I get home from work.
2. I take my dog off the chain.
3. I walk my dog to empty out.
4. Put dog on treadmill, he should run as fast as he can, and I leave the room.
5. I can hear the noisy treadmill I build when the dog breaks stride. When he breaks stride, he should fall to a walk or a long stride to rest and recover because he's oxygen deficient. I come back into the room so he will stay at the rest mode. I usually sit down and write something for one of the magazines.
6. At the 10-minute mark I jump up, leave the room and he should break on top again. It is good for a dog to be able to break out on top with ease. It's called free conditioning.
7. When he breaks stride, down to a walk or a long stride to the rest mode, I come back into the room and sit down.
8. At the 15-minute mark I put my foot on the mill and check his heart rate. Every day of the keep and all the way through to your contest your dog will do this 15 minute session. Take his heart rate, take him off the mill and walk him out in the same place you emptied him out at the start of the day, for five minutes. After 10 days of pre-keep you should get a handle on the heart rate that prepares him for the progressive work schedule, with no stress or strain in preparation for hard work. As long as it takes to get your dog to his true weight before you start adding work. I've had dogs on a 15-minute schedule for a year with small amounts of simple feed keep.
9. Three more days of the same schedule of the Keep to insure an accurate heart rate.
10. On the 4th day of the Keep is the first day of progressive work schedule. If his heart rate is the same or less than the day before at the 15 minute mark you get to add 5 minutes of work after you take him for his 5 minute walk. He should break on top for a few minutes and break stride to rest. At the 5-minute mark, take him off the mill and walk him out for 20 minutes and put him up and feed him.
11. On the 5th day of the "keep" do the first 15-minute session and check his heart rate. If his heart rate is the same or less than yesterday add another 5 minutes to his work schedule.
12. On the 6th day of the "Keep" do the first 15-minute schedule, check his heart rate. If his heart rate is the same or less than yesterday, add another 5 minutes to his work schedule. Walk him out for 20 minutes, put him up and feed him.
13. On the 6th day of the keep do the first 15-minute session, check his heart rate. If his heart rate is the same or less than yesterday, add another 5 minutes to the schedule, which will make another complete 15 minute session, so you take him for his 20 minute walk, I cool my dog down with a water hose if the weather permits, (70 degrees F) or more. Only after completing his second 15-minute session, on the 6th day, will your dog begin to warm up.
14. Two 15-minute sessions is the foundation of this free conditioning program. Continually adding 5 minutes every day building another 15-minute session looking for a bad recovery.
A bad recovery means a higher heart rate than yesterday; meaning yesterday was too much work. It could take 3, 4, or 5, 15-minute sessions to get a bad recovery. When you get a bad recovery, you know how much work your dog can take. There are many variables to contend with if your treadmill is not free turning. Your dog has to gallop instead of running freely. Usually a dog will stop and stand after he comes down from the gallop on a hard pulling mill. The 10-day pre-keep will condition your dog to gallop the treadmill instead of preparation for increased work. When he gets to the contest he will experience a higher heart rate than you conditioned during the keep. The reason people can't see when a dog breaks stride on a hard pulling mill. It's because he doesn't get any rest on top tugging at a gallop and if he is in good enough shape to walk on a hard pulling mill after galloping for 10 minutes, he won't get any rest tugging at a walk, so you actually overwork your dog, starting with the first day on. You will actually condition your dog to run the treadmill instead of preparing him for the contest, and when the contest starts he's sure to take bottom to rest. Your dog will have to take bottom much sooner than expected. It's called too much work, not enough rest to recover. That's why when I come home from work I only walk for 5 minutes, so I can put him on the mill ice cold for 3 to 6 minutes on top, because he will start the contest ice cold. When he does warm up in the contest at Maximum Stress he will feel strong because you have prepared your dog for the contest every day. It's a feeling that he experienced every day of the keep. Hoping your adversary was conditioned with a different work schedule, most likely your adversary will experience uncharted territory with a higher heart rate than any day of his condition and not be able to recover. You win the contest and retain his reserve energy (life sustaining fat) that he didn't have to use up in a long contest with stress and strain.

K/D Prescription Dog Food
Any vet will have K/D Diet Dog Food, but it is prescription because of the cobalt in it. It's very important to use K/D Dog Food as filler, along with the feed sheet I sent you with my book. There's no way you can condition maximum stress using any other dog food. Not just because of no cobalt, because all others have so much animal fat and meat by-products, more fat. To condition maximum stress properly in preparation to peak condition, your dog ends up with life sustaining reserve energy which will be used after your dog comes down progressively from maximum stress. Only you will know how long he should stay at m/s because you worked him. Most people hate to see their dog get to m/s because shortly after, their dog will falter and have to take bottom to respiratory recover.

Conditioned maximum stress means to condition the heart to beat as many times per minute until your dog breaks stride to recover. When he breaks stride it's because his brain is oxygen deficient, breaking stride starts his recovery with no choice in the matter, as soon as the workload decreases.

In the contest, he should never reach a heart rate as high as any day on the mill. If you achieve that with technique and diet your dog will fall into his own schedule. When he becomes oxygen deficient, he will break stride to replenish the oxygen in his blood. During the contest it takes 4 ½ minutes at a very high heart rate for all of the blood to get back to the heart. But all the blood leaving the heart isn't equally distributed. Which is just fine for normal living.

When the contest starts, and the heart rate increases, the blood becomes more and more oxygen deficient, that's the beginning of maximum stress. When a dog falters, slows down, breaks stride it's because the brain is oxygen deficient more so then the body. As I've said before, the blood leaving the heart is not equally distributed. Under normal living conditions the body can and does absorb oxygen efficiently. By the time m/s is reached, meaning the highest conditioned heart rate, then and only then does the body temperature rise. Your job is to prepare your dog to delay that rise in temperature and oxygen deficiency correctly! To slow down the temperature rise, it takes the correct amount of (H2O) water no more, no less for that condition, so your dog can breathe. Your dog has to be at his true weight. Correctly free conditioned he will breathe. Also, free conditioning will automatically store life-sustaining fat (Bonus energy) but use up daily fat supplements as energy. Correctly administered allows the body to cool. Free conditioning can and does allow you to achieve this, more so than other techniques. Correctly done your dog will stay cooler, take longer to reach a true m/s, stay at m/s longer, and recover much sooner. It's like he never stopped contesting the whole contest. Your dog breaks on top, turns the heat up, may never reach m/s, recovers with energy to spare, and wins the contest while your adversary struggles through the whole ordeal. Not every on looker knows how you won. You, on the other hand, become a competitor with confidence, and can win 5x's with every dog you contest and there isn't any better feeling because there isn't any other way to win a contest. I like winning against bite, ability, gameness and any bloodline. My fight is with conditioning my dog, not with my adversary. My adversary reminds me every day that I need to pay attention to his recovery every time. His recovery every day will tell you how he will do battle with his condition when the blood becomes more and more oxygen deficient.

That's why you should prepare the blood with the right nutrients to achieve the correct blood count to absorb as much oxygen as possible. The higher average heart rate you condition the more oxygen in the blood your dog starts the contest with. At the same time you will condition the heart to pump more blood for a longer time. This shortens recovery time because of the great health and condition of your dog's heart rate. That condition occurs during the contest. In other words he never experiences uncharted territory and that's the key to conditioning a dog. You can't see that condition vividly if you didn't peak your dog, otherwise you win or lose the contest with energy to spare. You test the blood, not game test him every time.

You can not achieve this by strength conditioning your dog. You cannot achieve that doing strength and free conditioning both. Strength conditioning of any kind is not preparation for the contest. Meaning the entire contest consists of fast muscles twitch exercise that's how you win contests. Why any one would strength condition a dog to achieve a much higher heart rate in the contest than they conditioned at home, meaning their dog will be oxygen deficient much sooner than yours. Whether you win or not I will bring the contest to you as long as I can. Also it doesn't make any difference which dog gets to m/s first. Most dogs that reach m/s first usually lose because it is not a conditioned m/s. A good to great free conditioned dog will reach m/s subsequently at the same time but with no stress involved with oxygen absorption, because he was freely conditioned at his true weight. A free conditioned dog progressively rested to raise the heart rate to perform at m/s because he will run cooler longer because it takes longer to raise the temperature than with other techniques or a combination of techniques. A great conditioning is to stay at m/s longer than your adversary. If he does, he may never heat up, reach m/s or break stride, or ever need to recover and that's what we hope to achieve. Never take a dog's water. And if you take away his water, you take from him his cooling. When progressively rested with water he won't retain any extra moisture when you condition the heart beat, not to speak of all the air moving in and out of his lungs for cooling. Your dog will cool forever. When you progressively cut back on work, he won't gain any weight match day all day. Of course, if you don't know how to finish a dog correctly you will end up testing his gameness instead of finishing your dog in preparation for the contest. You may win, you may lose. You need to change, unless you are happy with your performance in your last contest. I've never been that happy.

That's why the diet on the feed sheet is so simple, as long as you use canine K/D prescription dog food. Dogs that have bad kidneys and real old dogs are put on this diet to give them longevity in this world. No animal fat to heat your dog up. The best source of life sustaining fat that will be used up as the last energy source before he goes into mild shock or worse. A sufficient amount of recovery time every time he breaks stride builds life-sustaining fat. Too much work or not enough rest to recover uses up the reserve energy and you start the contest energy deficient. Yet he will look great and finish on the bottom. So in preparation for the contest you must get all your ducks in a row. If you need to feed cornflakes, fine, cornflakes won't hurt him. But, don't feed any leafy greens because of the high sulfur content, which is very hard on a dog's kidneys on a daily use. If you are looking for vitamin K; STOP. Because you have all you need with the correct diet and blood count. You can only put so much rain in a rain barrel. A conditioned heart rate means less moisture, means more air without taking away his water. Less fat means cooler dog at m/s means shorter recovery time means, you get to finish the contest with energy to spare, win, lose, or draw. At least you've done your part; the outcome is up to the dog. Choice of blood was yours; now your dog can prove to you with out any disadvantages to hinder his performance. You will be pleased with your choice. If you feed 2 cups of chemicals a day, you change his true weight. The dog doesn't cool correctly, and he will never recover from maximum stress and he will get to experience a higher heart rate during the contest than on any day of conditioning. You jinxed another one, even if you win. You won't win 5x's without change. My treadmills have stopped many dogs from getting their papers of championship, without earning them. Remember this, dusty chains could take away 40% of his air. I put the Gunner dog on the video because Gunner took the 20 count standing in the corner and lost. I conditioned him and won against a 3x winner in 43 minutes, and he never put all four feet on the canvas the entire contest.

CONDITION AND WEIGHT LOSS

Some men have had a problem with scheduled work increase. Most of you men are better dog men then you realize. Because of all the good groceries, vitamins, minerals, and a free conditioning, you may not get a bad recovery to indicate enough work, therefore overworking your dog. Continuing to add work looking for a bad recovery will eventually result in weight loss with a good recovery sometimes. Always remember it just doesn't take that much work to get a dog in condition whether or not he can bite, fight, or whatever. The bloodline was your choice.

The first step would be to increase his feed, but as work is increased still looking for a bad recovery your dog may start losing weight again. It's not uncommon for a dog to be well conditioned with just three, fifteen-minute sessions. Walk him for an hour before you put him up. If your dog works hard, for the three sessions, just walk out the rest of the increased schedule. The book is not fool proof; some people can break the horn off an anvil looking too far ahead for stress and strain.

With the running keep, the first fifteen minute session your dog will look weak, stagger around and may not even lift his leg to empty out when you take him off the mill. That's normal because he is still ice cool, even though his tongue is hanging out of his mouth. He should never sweat off his tongue in the first session but, after his second fifteen minute session you will notice that your dog won't stagger and recover much quicker, very few dogs sweat off their tongue with two sessions. Although his tongue will still be hanging out, because that is an efficient expression of cooling, not necessarily that he is hot, fatigue, from stress and strain.

My book demands a response of some kind, from your dog or from you if you have any problems. There have been many people making comments and not one of theses people read my book. Most of the time I write for the people that bought my book. If someone else can learn something from that, good. It is galling, that any response would keep people from change, and not write an alternative note in detail. The truth is that the objectivity is anything but an objection and represents just another part of an attack on dog men. My book has become revitalized in the last year because of what I write in the magazines. It has undertaken new efforts to make the truth known about what to do for your dog. The enemies have become increasingly strident in their counter attacks. As my book undergoes resurgence, the attacks on the book have taken on a new urgency and viciousness. Their biased and unfair in refusing to tell the whole story like "PETA" the biggest dick heads among the Humaniacts. And seemed intent on perpetuating the myth that I am an active dog fighter, how stupid can someone be. Others think I'm taking advantage of dog men for a mere $40.00. The truth is that most strength conditioning keeps prevailing can never be improved because of the sale of a low cost junk mill, pulling weights and too much unworthy chemicals. The fact is that more often, conveniently overlook the fact that they can't and never will condition maximum stress in preparation for the contest. How do you condition maximum stress? Raise the heart rate and recover, raise the heart and recover, over and over and over, the book tells how many over's to do and look for the heart rate to be more than yesterday, simple. I understand that many people think that I'm single minded about conditioning a dog. But, no more than others that strength condition dogs or use a combination of strength and free conditioning, and because they won, their way was the right way, but he didn't meet a free conditioned dog.

Single minded, could be called an opinion, a flying jenny is free conditioning like an easy turning treadmill. In other words, a running keep, a bicycle does very well for your dog and yourself to be totally prepared.

Whatever your opinion is about conditioning, there is one thing we all have in common, that is trying to condition "maximum stress" in our own way or opinion from past experience. Open your eyes before you give your opinion.

I know you'll have fought many dogs because I've read your names in all the magazines for as long as I can remember. Hard pulling treadmill, a treadmill with plastic boards condition their dogs to work the mill every day, not in preparation for the contest, as far as taking the same dog and condition one time strength and the next time free. There are a lot of variables to consider. The free conditioned time, I work the dog, he could weigh 2 lbs. lighter than when I strength conditioned him. Also I may run the risk of stress and strain throughout the keep. And who is to say that the dog 2 lbs. lighter, most likely longer and taller because of a free conditioning is NOT as strong as his shorter adversary, at the same weight, not to speak of coordination, balance, speed to the holt, movement, great angles, and what's more important is that a higher conditioned heart rate that no dog will produce during the contest unless needed. Of course, it's only an opinion that 102 treadmills have proven a thousand times. I wouldn't tell anyone anything to harm their dog; apparently no one has found anything to improve it. The respiratory recovery method in my book is; raise the heart rate and rest. If you and everyone else will do this with a free technique I feel I have helped everyone. You will condition maximum stress in preparation for the contest, and that process will end up being your keep. I can't tell you how much I enjoy answering people who say the right things in a way that they expect the same respect in a rebuttal. Thank you for your direction. All the input from people has allowed me to explain things, so ya'll can understand better. Just add it to your keep, what harm can it do? Use a bike for two sessions like the video shows you on the mill. That will get him to his true weight. Now he can cool correctly.

I'm not selling a $200.00 "Keep". I'm telling you what happens with anybody's keep, so I don't incorporate any of it, feed keep or technique. That produced the book and the 2-hour tape on a free turning mill, flying jenny or a 10-speed bike. I sold 600 books for forty dollars a pop. A lot of young men are in great shape to handle a dog in a contest because their heart rate has been conditioned like their dogs, especially hog hunters that have to be "Johnny on the spot" when the hounds strike first. Because a bulldog will get killed quickly, helping out his buddies. You will witness, one 15-minute session on an old Carver "combine mill", reconditioned by the "Millmaker". Also a session of pre keep too on my 42 foot Flying Jenny with at 24 inch banked wall a greyhound can run 40 miles per hour on. I will tell you why Tuffy, Art, Dolemite, and all the rest of Stinson/Glover dogs were above average. This video is like no other video.

When you people go to buy a puppy only a few people get a good one. You choose a conditioning program and the technique to condition "maximum stress". If I don't know how to condition a dog, where does that put you on the food chain? The video will prove without a doubt that choice of technique to recovery with a schedule produced by your dog. If your dog is conditioned and can recover on his feet you prepared your dog for the contest, and got a shot at winning. That's why there isn't one champion in any of the magazines that is really any better champion than another. Is the whole dog game, a crapshoot, of course not? Doesn't anyone want to be a world champ instead of settling on an unproven champion like all the rest? What about you magazine dog fighters that never have a champion? Why do you people keep fighting dogs? Take one dog and try for four time at least you are above average. Ya'll don't need a yard full of dogs. You can bet all the money you want and scream and holler! But you need to be a gentleman and a sportsman.

Notes from the Millmaker

It's all on the video. The correct recovery time during conditioning every dog is what wins fights. How to recover because a free conditioned dog will produce his own schedule at maximum stress to recover. Not schedule a dog's work every day for him, and guessing the amount of recovery, your dog can never recover on his feet during the contest. You may have to take bottom. That's why so many people's dogs have to take bottom in the contest. Your dog should never take bottom to recover, just because the majority of the dogs do this. My dogs did, until I changed something. People see no reason to change techniques to be able to recover on his feet or what to change because they won. People call me for help. I explain the progressive work schedule that each dog produces. Even if their dog has to take bottom they tell me about the performance when and how long they were on bottom. So we can schedule more recovery time. We can't schedule time at maximum stress, some things dogs are gamier than others and work harder and still recover. Dogs that over work themselves that way are put on a fixed work schedule (3-15 minute sessions) until three days before the contest when you progressively cut his work. Always rest a free conditioned dog by progressively decreasing his work. The dog won't take on moisture and take away his air. He will however, burn more fat as primary energy and heat up if you took away his cooling.

It's the same thing when all the other mill makers compare their "junk mills" to mine. My treadmill doesn't have to be elevated more than 1 inch. The boards don't come off the belt because they are plastic, or rub blisters on the sides of their feet because it pulls so hard trying to keep it turning. Your dog can't recover on his feet, so how can he recover in the contest? That condition has never been contested. Don't even think their mills can turn over a minimum of three times, but they say they do. Treadmill belts with plastic boards are so heavy some will turn over three times, it's called strength conditioning. How could a dog recover? Don't buy a mill your dog can't recover on. So this is it buy my book, video, or call me. 1-281-331-3269, E-mail boblemm@swbell.net or see my website at http:/home.swbell.net/boblemm/ I handled a dog for Stinson that quit between my legs to make Rocky a 3x winner. Both done on my mills.

Notes from the Millmaker

What I say about all you people who think you have a different way to be good at something. As a breeder or dog man you people cut your own throats because you sell puppies. You people do what you want because you can. So you sell puppies and kill your personal best. That's why so many people have "cheapened" a champion with all the puppies that are sold to people that know less than they do? Most people hurt their dog's kidneys so bad that they have a hard time making "champion" much less a 5x or 7x winner. When someone gets to 5x's they can see from their performance the error of their ways. They might want to start over with a new dog of better stamina, most likely an out-crossed dog. You people need to change something in a way that helps your dog prepare for the next contest, that is not a frivolous statement. If your dog reaches maximum stress in the contest he wasn't prepared. If there are no broken bones or didn't get your pipes drained, but went into mild shock, he wasn't prepared. So what is there to remember? Technique versus kidneys, maximum stress verses recovery, you verses the world.

Any questions call 1-281-331-3269. Please no nut cases there is only one way to condition maximum stress. "Let your dog do it freely". I have seen some great dogs in my lifetime. Back when Texas and Louisiana had the majority of dogs in the world, and a few good dog men everywhere else. Now there are dogs everywhere and they have no one to tell them how to be recognized as a true competitor, they are just there doing it half way and quitting after 3x's. I write to help you become a true competitor. There is one thing for sure. You may think you are above average among your peers because of Jack Kelly's "Journal", but "my peers" and I will be remembered for what ya'll aren't. Because ya'll fought a lot of dogs, instead of fighting a gentleman and a sport, open your eyes, it's easier, costs less and a lot more enjoyable when you show up with a winner every time. You have to prove it or walk away a looser and start over again. The odds are with you; you win more times with an experienced dog. Your dog can be conditioned with less work for the same performance and end the contest with reserve energy to start the prekeep like he did in his first outing. If and when the individual does win 4x's or more, he can look back and know that his last performance might not have been his personal best, but he will never have a bad night again. When you do win 5x's call me, "we can really talk dogs" especially if you lose the fifth contest. You know a few years of trying with the dogs on your yard becoming winners, out-crossing to winning dogs. You don't just carry on the names on the pedigrees. Breeding winners you leave out the bad. Breeding pedigrees, you bring along the bad with you. You carry on physical confirmation with stamina. When people breed to dogs because of names on paper that aren't winners, they lessen the chances of producing a dog of quality. For every dog bred that way that becomes famous, a hundred didn't make it. Yet people still continue to do it. Try to incest winners of one blood, to retain recessive genetics, to breed to increased winners of another bloodline. Condition and roll all that weak stamina shit. Pick out as many game ones of both litters. Breed those two litters together; producing out crossed dogs called "the mule" "the work horse" of the breed. Sometimes you can buy a dog or pay a fee to breed to produce the "mule" out cross with stamina. Work with another yard like Stinson/Glover did after working as many dogs as I have, and 102 treadmills working over a 1,000 dogs and talking and helping most of them. I asked questions of breeders because of the many stamina problems of all dogs during conditioning. The differences I found with maximum stress to recovery and recovery was because of breeding. I couldn't have come up with the truth if 1,000 or more winners were using the wrong technique, feed keep, in preparation for the contest. I wish I could condition everyone of ya'lls dogs for their first contest, to find out what their true weight is, so I can add work looking for a bad recovery. Hand them to you to go and find 5 dogs to contest to find out that because I found his true contesting weight, that all 5 contests were with "mallard ducks". There's only one reason out of three reasons that you can lose. Shock, because of bone breakage, get your pipes drained, or the blood in his veins...you just can't make the mistake of letting the blood in his veins be the reason you lost because you left him down too long after one or both of the first 2 reasons you could lose from. If you make that mistake, "you're not a gentleman or a sportsman, you're stupid and inhumane." Just as soon as your dog falters, breaks stride, can't defend himself, tell your opponent you will pick your dog up if he will give you a rematch. If he agrees, pick your dog up, if he said no, pick your dog up before he uses up all of his reserve energy and never be the dog he was ever again.

"Seen Through the Eyes of the Millmaker"

P.S. All through the 70's I competed against people that had my mills. Three different shows had every dog worked on my treadmills. My treadmills made all the dogs look like they were running in heavy traffic.

Notes from the Millmaker

WHAT IS A GOOD DOG?

HOW SHOULD HE PERFORM?

The best kind of dog to condition is a dog that will run a free turning mill as fast as he can for as long as he can, before he breaks stride or slows down. From that exhibition of energy I look for "maximum stress" on the first day of the prekeep and the dog does that for ten days. Fifteen minutes a day is not in the least harmful to a healthy dog. You can keep your dog at that schedule for 6 months. It does prepare him so when I start to add work day after day, I will enjoy seeing "maximum stress" fade away and stress and strain is no more never to show up in my face again. Unless there is a health problem, or a feed keep problem where as the respiratory recovery method stops me from adding to a problem by over working the dog. Most likely you get a bad recovery. If there is no problem I am free to chase after maximum stress. By continually adding work day after day, hoping I get to the one-hour mark before I get a bad heart rate, more heartbeats than yesterday. No bad recovery means somebody's going to have a hard time winning and they can bring "Billy Bear", my fight is against maximum stress. My job is conditioning my dog well enough to drive the other dog into maximum stress first and if my dog is in great shape he will continue to apply aggression to win because he can recover on his feet. Now, how do I prove it to everyone? Simple, I condition my dog to burn a vast amount of carbohydrates for a long period of time day after day, also use up a vast amount of calories. Also, "bonus energy" from stored conditioned body fat, hoping the contest doesn't go over an hour, so my dog won't have to convert life-sustaining body fat into energy. Because that's all the energy my dog has left. All great dog men do all of that very well. The only difference between the greats is the traffic they run in. If your dog has to take bottom you missed it again, and only you should know why that happened. Everyone that calls me always asks, what about strength training during the keep? And I always say, I'm doing just that. The dogs I condition don't pull sleds or win a prize for shaking a hide the hardest and loosening up his hip sockets. There is no way to strength condition a dog for the contest and that dog not get to maximum stress before my dog does. Every time I see a dog get hot and reach maximum stress early in the contest, I know it is the fault of technique. Like a hard pulling treadmill or, worse yet, carrying or pulling weights, or 40 feet of chain. When a dog like that meets up with a free conditioned dog he usually loses. And if he wins, that means the other dog was in worse shape, most likely strength conditioned also. Don't let muscle heads tell you that pulling weights, or jerking on a spring-loaded hide is good for your dog in a contest. Muscle heads never catch on, they think that my dog is going to let their dog bite and shake him like he does that spring loaded hide.

Just a few thoughts to the people who bought my book. Also, dogs that have to contest on carpet will automatically dig their toenails in the carpet and lunge forward. A free conditioned dog doesn't have time to plant his feet, he's running to fast, and can run fast all night and not get caught. The strength-conditioned dog has no choice in the matter. That's why there won't be any more great combat dogs like Tuffy and Jeep until you contest your dogs on a tarpaulin canvas. Tuffy went on offense and bit hard. Jeep went on offence and didn't bite hard.

Stinson/Glover and company had Tuffy right and I know. James Crenshaw had Jeep right; it's a guessing game with James whenever I saw his dogs fight. I know how he did it! I don't know how he scheduled a dog to work. No dog will ever be a better-earned R.O.M. and surely if they haven't won 3x's like Frisco, zero x's.

"Seen Through the Eyes of the Millmaker"

Notes from the Millmaker

People unnecessarily use their reserve energy because of the pit rules, being misunderstood. Reasons for that is, because people don't understand what the Cajun Rules are for, and what they mean. That meaning hurts both dogs, winners and losers. For the winner possibly using up his reserve energy he needs to use in a contest or save his life if he is contested into a dog conditioned as well as he is. Either dog can not foul his adversary. But either handler can foul either dog and the other handler or all three. That has happened in almost every contest I have witnessed since 1993. It would seem that since there are so many of you great dog men at this time, that none of you people would want to lengthen a fight or stress their dogs any more than necessary to win or forget where you were 20 minutes ago. Great or poor dog men are the same. They started their apprenticeship thinking they know what the rules are for and what they mean. So when they referee a contest they think and do what they know and saw. Enough about all that for now. Ya'll need to know the beginning of the rules, and it's not that far back from today.

Around 19?? A man named Gaboon Trahan was the chief of police in Lafayette for 20 years. Mr. Trahan provided a place for the greatest dog men in the world to contest their dogs twice a year. Any one from out of town had a place to stay at Gaboon's motel and most didn't have to pay for it. Everyone invited was a gentleman and a sport, at least when they were at that outing. Everyone knew if they didn't that Mr. Trahan might shoot them. Now days there are so many people not being a gentleman and sport that there aren't enough people knowing what is right, that there is no restraint that can be applied to change things. I have a poster and a letter to tell all the contestants where the money went, who got what amount. This poster has names and weights of a 14-contest convention. Some of them and others asked Gaboon Trahan to write a set of rules that would make it fair for both dogs and handlers to produce a winner in any contest. Just as they have been for, God only knows, how long. The first thing Mr. Trahan said, "I need some help from Roland Fontenot and Jimmy Wimberly."" There wasn't anyone in the world that knew more about contesting two dogs or men than Roland and Jimmy, October 27, 1958. I was 16 years old.

A lot of these men were better competitors than the few names ya'll know. Now there wouldn't be any reason anyone couldn't or not know how someone would referee a contest, because they knew the meaning of the rules. Everyone thinking, competing toward a common goal. By now you all think that's what you do in the year of 1998. But, first I need to tell you where they are, where they are going, and where they hope to be as a competitor. The majority are competitors contesting their dogs, looking for a dog that might be good enough to win three contests. No big rush to achieve that accomplishment, it could happen any time. To win three was to be a good average dog man that wasn't inexperienced, and apprentice-ship is over. To win three contests with one dog to day doesn't mean the same thing. Only the very few now days go on to win four or more. Today the good average competitor wins three and retires their dog, starts selling puppies to anyone and may advertise, in one magazine or all. The days of old didn't have to advertise. To be above average would be to win four or five. That would be above normal all from being a competitor. In 1998 winning three is to be famous, instant puppy factory, worldwide magazines fame, money by the few average. The majority breeding to dogs with name on papers of winners three generations back. Losing the concept of breeding to winners, mostly because they aren't of the days of old, will never be a competitor not knowing that names on paper are not what produces individuals as the few. Now let's talk about 1998 and the misunderstanding of the rules. That doesn't change the outcome of any of the contests, but is just not right.

I went to the mountains to watch Pitdog try to win 7 with a dog named C-C , because if she won 7, Pitdog would be of the few in the world that achieved that honor. If it were easy there would be more people get there. Now days somebody beats three mallard ducks and they quit! If it's mallard ducks for three, why not five or seven ducks? Because they don't know they are just average. Pitdog caught on right away as a world-class competitor. C-C wins 5x's and he's above average. Tells me he's looking for 7x's, he did it and now is world class but tells me maybe 8x's. He did and he lost. That's because he didn't want any puppies out of Frisco's trash blood. Frisco never won a contest, so he can pass on some bad along with the good. Like I said before, I went to tell Pitdog that he and I were the only 2 dog men there that night that had conditioned and won 7x's. He, I and others have done it with a treadmill that I built. Pitdog has two certificates of merit (C.O.M.) For C-C. 5x's is above average and 7x's is world class. It's not that it is so hard to do; it is because his tail never got fluffy trying to be a competitor. Pitdog will get both (C.O.M.) When I read this in this magazine. I'm sure there will be many more to come. Pitdog is my friend, he did all the work, I answered any and all questions with my opinion of what I thought it would take to condition and win. He did some things I said, and he did some things he thought were right. Never the less he raised the heart rate so high every day in conditioning that not only C-C but all of his champions and 4x winners and 1x and 2x winners never experienced a greater heart rate in the contest than they did every day of their conditioning and he will keep on winning until his competitors change something. As a result none of them had to take bottom and get up to win. If they quit they quit on their feet or he picked them up to fight another day because he is if nothing else, a gentleman and a sport when contesting his dogs. Talking trash pit side doesn't change a dog's conditioning. It keeps his adversary from changing.

Now about the meaning of the rules. One article, one rule! Handling from the bottom as I did "Doc" right for his 4th 2:39, Ridley's dog couldn't swim fast enough to beat the 20 count. We won the money, but we didn't beat him!

Don't say it isn't, just because you don't understand the meaning of why you need to call an honest turn. When a turn is called and confirmed by the referee both handlers and referee work together to give the turning dog a chance to quit, or we would be just like Hard Copy said we are. Play by the rules, the referee gave both handlers an order not to be disobeyed. If a handler won't handle his dog, you tell the referee he won't handle his dog. If I'm that referee and a handler slow plays two handles, I will foul him out. He loses because he doesn't want to allow the turning dog to have a chance to quit. As the referee that is why I was chosen to insure either dog and both handlers a fair way to win and lose. When I referee a fight, I tell both handlers," Cajun Rules, gentlemen." Gaboon Trahan doesn't care if you want a 10 count to scratch, 20 seconds in the corner, 20 seconds out of hold, and I don't care either!!! But, if I said "Cajun Rules" by God you better not foul like some stupid magazine dog fighter. Now say I was the referee of the fight that a handler handled his dog from the bottom. If he succeeded or not I would tell him if he does that again he will foul out and lose. Why anyone would handle from the bottom because most likely the bottom dog is the one that turned and is eventually going to quit? That's a good habit to teach your dog! Every time he's out of hold he knows he'll get a rest in the corner. This dog can never be a 5x winner because the conditioner is and will game check his dog every contest because he doesn't know how to keep his dog off the bottom. So he can win and leave the contest with reserve energy to start the next prekeep. You failed to condition him well enough to defend himself long enough to keep him from turning, much less handling him from the bottom while he is out of the hold. You want to lengthen the fight, or foul yourself out instead of winning by the rule that a man must handle his dog or lose. What if I was the referee and I thought everyone knew the rules. That handler made a second handle from the bottom. I say you lose. Everybody there would pull out their guns and kill me. That's why I won't referee a fight unless it's between people that are on that 14-match convention 40 years ago, or both handlers agree to let me referee by Cajun Rules. My decision is final, or the best dog wins. Maybe people will look at the animals right to be treated fairly. There are more great dogs today than there are gentlemen and sports. In the days of old there were gentlemen and sports because of the meaning of the rules.

"Seen Through The Eyes Of The Millmaker"